Nearly two dozen people have lost their lives and a number of others sustained injuries when a powerful bomb explosion struck a minibus carrying workers employed in a major oil facility in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a car rigged with explosives was detonated remotely in the town of al-Shuhayl, close to an oil field, which serves as a base for the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The Britain-based group added that six members of the Kurdish-led SDF were also killed as they escorted the workers.

Earlier, the observatory reported that around 150 Daesh terrorists and their family members had been handed over to Iraq.

It said the relatives were taken from the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz to Iraq in trucks belonging to the US-led coalition purportedly fighting Daesh.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said on Tuesday that he was concerned about developments in neighboring Syria, where Daesh terrorists have lost their last stronghold on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, and are fleeing in droves towards desert areas in Iraq’s western province of Anbar.

Massive car bomb in Syria's Afrin

Also on Thursday, several people suffered injuries when a massive blast hit Syria's Kurdish-populated northwestern city of Afrin.

The explosion occurred as a car bomb was detonated near Dirsem Hospital following a military parade by members of the so-called Free Syrian Army, according to the observatory.

The London-based observatory added that some of the injured were in critical condition.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups wreaking havoc in the country.